Reviewing the Icom IC-905 SHF/VHF/UHF All Mode Transceiver
Вставка
- Опубліковано 14 лип 2024
- With the much-anticipated UK release of our all new IC-905 SHF/VHF/UHF All Mode Transceiver around the corner, we were lucky enough to get our hands on two of them and asked our friends at TX Films to see if they would like to be the first to do a review. In the resulting UA-cam video Bob McCreadie (G0FGX) of TX Films, along with Dave Crump (G8GKQ) and Noel Matthews (G8GTZ) from the British Amateur Television Club, put the IC-905 through its paces, producing a video that demonstrates the IC-905's impressive features and capabilities.
In the video, Bob McCreadie takes us through various aspects of the IC-905 including:
- Introduction to the IC-905 SHF/VHF/UHF All-Mode Transceiver.
- Connectivity…an overview of the sockets and connections on this radio .
- Menu navigation on the IC-905.
- Overview of the RF Unit and Transverter.
- Field Test on Bulbarrow Hill in Dorset including ATV and 10Ghz SSB Tests.
00:00 Introduction
01:11 Connectivity
03:53 Menu navigation
06:06 Overview of the RF Unit and Transverter
08:11 Field Test
11:55 ATV Field Test
15:55 10Ghz SSB Test
17:27 Summary
For more details about the IC-905 visit icomuk.co.uk/IC-905_VHF_UHF_S...
For more information about TX Films and their programme dedicated to the great hobby of Amateur Radio, visit www.txfactor.co.uk/.
For news updates regarding this model, please sign up for our newsletter or our social media channels.
- icomuk.co.uk/Icom_Newsletter
- icomuk.co.uk/Follow-Icom-News...
#HamRadio #Icom #ic905 - Наука та технологія
Some very familiar faces! Well done guys 👏👏👏
If this is intended for permanent installation at the masthead, all of the connections should have been at one end of the RF units (the lower end) and a rain shield provided, in the manner of an LNB. As things stand, I think you would need to locate this in a separate weatherproof box. It is also a pity that 2m/70cm/23cm share a single connector. You will need a triplexer or remote switched relay to use separate aerials for each band or just use a tri-band vertical.
Who knows what is the supposed use on 144/432... It is too expensive radio for just talking on repeaters with a multiband vertical antenna. You can do that with IC-5100... So probably some more fine stuff, however, it is still quite low power, so I'd expect it feeding some PA and then used for EME or SAT... However, the RF unit is mounted on the mast, so should be the amplifier for 2m/70cm be, since it wouldn't make sense to coax it down and up again... Also, for the AMPs it'd indeed make sense to have separate sockets, such as IC-9700 has... So maybe for some QRP portable work? Maybe, but you can do the same with IC-705 much cheaper. So I think these bands are in 905 just because it'd be bad not to include them. Which also makes sense. But you're right, three N connectors for 144/432/1296 would be better.
Great video! Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for your kind comments!
@@Icom_UK 🙂
Great presentation guys, well done thank you. VK2SS
Excellent 905 demo! Thank you.
Thank you
Great review guys.
There is some innovation here, with the networking and the remote box. I will wait for the next version with the missing 9cms (3.4 GHz) band and of course digital TV. You would think digital TV would have been easier to include than analogue, given it is an SDR. We really shouldn't be using FM TV as it is so spectrally inefficient. Maybe the IQ data is exposed, or at least the DSP IF, like in the IC9700. I didn't see any IF or Data out but it might be on the Ethernet. It will certainly be on the Cat cable between the units, which is likely to be exploitable.
Your average ham isn't going to be able to work anyone on a small colinear like those from home on the microwave bands. Especially as practically everyone else is using horizontal polarisation. It might be counter-productive when the new operator finds their £3500 investment does not result in any contacts. I suppose it isn't really intended for European microwave and satellite enthusiasts, but a little steerable dish in a radome would have been nice, along with duplex capability for satellites.
As it is, contrary to Icom claims, it can not be used on QO100 alone. That is not because it won't work, it will, and well, but because being able to monitor your downlink, i.e. work duplex, is a requirement. I suppose someone could buy two and link them but customers need to be made aware of the AMSAT requirements.
awesome stuff
This radio is going to be excellent for VHF UHF Microwave contesting rovers. If you simply rotate amongst rovers at various grid corners with those collinear antennas, you can rack up some points. I hope we see more microwave grid activations. 73 de af4od
Great stuff. Why was it searching for GPS all the time?
Nice kit, nice price I imagine. Don't think I'll be getting one any time soon, I have enough problems finding someone to talk to on 2m up here in the North East of Scotland, not a hope of a sniff on 10GHz..!
ICOM 905 is Selling like Crazy here in the US!
Great work guys, really shows the features of this radio. Quick question, does the ATV also send audio? Thanks
It should do
$350 for each band's antenna is also crazy. Should get a multi-band for that price.
I’d like to ask Bob a question, have you stopped doing the RSGB audio because it was very useful as I am registered blind I can understand that you may have stopped all the stuff but it would’ve been nice if you’d let people know that you are stopping doing the audio podcasts😊
Miss the show he use to do, When is TX Factor coming back?
Me to don't know what happened to it
Just a few questions re the 905 can you work via QO100 and also is it possible to operate DATV and is there an optional ICOM video camera for this radio.
Yes, you can. DATV is not possible. Icom don't have an optional video camera,
And the bonus is that if those cows get in the way of the transmission, you've got your steak ready to eat!
Hi, I want a new IC-905! But can you tell me if it will receive/work 9600 baud satellites? I understand the maximum bandwidth of the 905 is 5600 Hz. If anyone is working the 9K6 baud sats with it, please comment!
Out of the box there are so many issues, i wish i could be more positive.
For starters, as anyone whose operated an IC-705 for a few minutes will know the lack of tilting bale and the way it sits so low on a surface is a pain.
Needs to be mounted in a frame to make it practical on day 1.
2/70/23 on the same socket... on a specialised VHF/UHF/Microwave rig?
Analogue TV... are we still in 1995?
Should be mini/micro HDMI IN & OUT
And those power levels... Icom weren't sure whether to go QRP or QRO, so they went somewhere inbetween.
Add a transverter to a 9700 and you might be better off... though the seperate RF module could be an asset when it comes to difficult / longer distance installations.
Pity it's a proprietary box using a proprietary link to the radio.
Could be very clever to have an IP connected RF module running in an 802.3bt PoE++ switch that one could access from anywhere in the house or away.
Super duper cool, but no 222MHz or 902MHz? 😢
My complaint exactly. There is a huge opportunity to offer the only radio that includes both those bands.
222 isn't available in the UK (or anywhere in Region 1 come to that).
congratulatione, hi, how to put a picture on microsd?
Thank you
This PDF gives information about this: icomuk.co.uk/files/icom/PDF/radioGuide/Picture_Tx_ENG_IM_3.pdf
@@Icom_UK thanks for the info, I installed and loaded the img with the software, in dv mode the img can be seen and transmitted, in ATV mode video only, I don't see the images on the tx part, where am I wrong?
Thanks for the info
iz5tep
Can the IC-905 receive the 137 MHz NOAA sats? Thanks, CE4JDM
No it cant.
Is it full duplex for satellite contacts?
No, it isn't.
@@Icom_UK why? And no DVB...own goal
What bands/freq can it do ATV on?
23cm + upwards. Note no allocation on ATV repeater for IC-905 on 23cm
I've just seen the proposed license changes for UK this year including access for all licenses to 2.4 and 5ghz bands, this along with no novs for some repeaters ( hopefully aprs so we cam give that a boost) but most exciting is the video tx on thise bands for all. I had written off getting the 905 bc of some of this but if these changes go ahead, I guess I'll be getting one.
Would be so good if they could have done DTV as well though
Good, next time record the radio reception.
Here is why I will not buy it. Low power on all the bands would be OK if there was PTT switching available at the mast for TX an RX amplifiers. 2m/ 70cm and 23 cm from the same port is a joke, should be separate connectors. The head unit has side connectors, nothing but a pain in a crowded shack. I have the 9700, cost me almost half as much again to make it from an OK radio to a good radio. Why Icom do you never get your high end radios quite right when the problems are quite obvious? Unless you can compete with Kuhne the dollars you are asking don't stack up. ZL4IV
Wait. What happened to 147-148??
We might have more information upon release
UK 2m band is only 144-146Mhz
That is enabled on the US version. UK is limited.
@@ChatGPT1111 Sadly true, the US gets a lot more than we do, 420-450 on 70cm as well as 220 🙁
What that power out put
18'13''
10w 2m & 70cm, 2w 2400 & 5600Mhz & 0.5w on 10Ghz (Mentioned at end of video)
could have said the callsigns a few more dozen times
Perfectly reasonable use of them to me.
Whote aboute rx/tx mod ?
But, what for using this GHz bands? This TRX models are expensive ,and nothing more.
This video demonstrates perfectly how ham radio has become a cash- and tech-heavy hobby in an effort to look relevant in the modern world. The ATV demonstration, in particular, demonstrated how poorly ATV fits into a 21st century where everyone carries a cellphone capable of instant, worldwide, high-quality, video communication.
Amateur radio has never been more important than it is, or soon will be as it is right now.
But it's a hobby. Some people use fishing rods instead of trawlers.
You've missed the whole point of ham radio. It requires zero infrastructure from others, unlike your cell phone. These high level bands are also all but immune from unwanted monitoring by anyone and everyone with a $20 receiver.
Nice but way overpriced. Kenwood and Yaesu have an opportunity to compete. Sure wish they'd bring back radios covering the 1.25m and 33cm bands.
I have been curious how to install the RF head for a more permanent installation, protecting connectors from the weather. Is the recommended use to just set it up as we see in the video and then take it down when done?
Thanks for the question. As you can appreciate in this video, it was a temporary set-up, and I know some customers will want a permanent installation.
The control/RF unit and the CX-10G have an IP55 rating. The AH-24, AH-56 & AH-100 antennas all have IP67 ratings. For all external items, any connector areas must be properly treated with self-adhesive water-resistant tape to keep any water ingress at bay.